really intended going to find the strange herb for which Dr. Todd was
willing to pay so generously.

Of discussion, pro and con, there was much. Indeed, they sat up until
after midnight after the reading of Dr. Todd's letter, talking over
the contemplated journey, and gradually the details of the trip,
including all preparations for it, were worked out.

Jack and Mark put into the affair, once they were determined to aid
the professor, their characteristic energy. Professor Henderson wired
his brother scientist that he would undertake the journey to Alaska,
and accepted the ten thousand dollars to defray expenses. Andy Sudds
made characteristic preparations for hunting the big game of the Alaskan
mountains. Washington White built a traveling coop of very light but
strong material for his pet Shanghai, and then announced himself as
ready to depart for the Arctic Circle.

The instructions and map furnished by Dr. Todd, locating the very spot
beyond the Endicott Range where the rare herb had been plucked by the
miner, showed it to be in a very wild region indeed. There was a native
settlement named Aleukan within a hundred miles of the valley where
the herb was supposed to grow in abundance. Professor Henderson
determined to lay their course for this place.

But the nearest white man's town was Coldfoot, on the other side of
the mountains. There was a trail, however, passable in summer for a
dogtrain from Coldfoot to Aleukan; and a dogtrain could likewise pass
from the native village to the valley where the miner had found the
herb.